Summer 2005 Transamtrail &#43; USA

Day 1: rode 450 miles in the later part of the day due to a late start running around for the last few items. Here I am stuck in a 7 mile long traffic jam east of Buffalo. I eventualy gave up and rode the shoulder to the end. I justified it by the fact that it was 100 deg F and high humidity and I was cooking in my riding gear.

Nice corner coming off of the damn, seemed like a good picture shot of one of those...well classic motorcycle cornering pictures....only its hard to take said picture when you dont have a photographer.

I started the Transamerica trail In Tennessee and this was the first gravel road I hit.....as it turned out there are not that many gravel roads in Tennessee. Oh, it was also about 100 deg F with about 100% humidity.

Ok, so we jump forwards to Arkansas with no pictures inbetween. Truth is I was dying in the 100%humidity/100deg F. So I skipped ahead through the rest of Tennessee, and jumped past mississippy as well. I headed up to the Ozarks and rejoined the transamtrail. I tried one campground but there were a lot of stray dogs and it was just plain sketchy. So I headed into the national forest (in the dark mind you) and found this one road. Rode in for a while and found a nice spot, set up the tent and went to sleep.....hoping I wasnt in a bad place. Turned out to be pretty nice.

This is a turtle....yes there is a pissed off turtle in there. He was in the run me over position in the middle of the sunny high way so i moved him to the side....where he probably just turned around and went back.

Other then one loose gravel stretch in mississippi this was my first "technical" section. Like all good pictures this one doesnt reveal how steep and loose the trail was. I even had the pleasure of getting around some big trees further down....in future carry folding saw. The bike was a handful with the stock front tire...but I didnt dump it.

This could be me...or you. This guy was interesting to say the least. If I remember correctly he had been a realtor in his earlier years and it sounded like he made some money. Then at some point he just started living off the motorcycle. he was camped out in the Ozarks....and had been in this spot for the last 10 months. He had this cool old Yamaha and a lot of very low tech get the job done cheaply but effectively gear. He even had a walmart email, but when I emailed him recently the address bounced.

Welcome to Oklahoma where its flat, the roads are straight, and we dont have any humidity. To make up for the lake of humidity it will be 120 deg F...enjoy your stay, oh and we have very little shade so enjoy it when you find it. (this pic looks East)

KUDZU.....gusunteight. this stuff was apparently brought in to feed the cattle....was probably one of the first good scams that the USA experience. Turns out the cattle didnt like it but it liked its new home. Now its grows over everything in its path until everything in its path dies. This spot was surreal.

First flat tire on one of my motorcycles...EVER! Add another tool to the list (bead breaker). It took aboit 3 hours to get the wheel off the bike, break the bead, change the tube and tire, reinflate the tire (my pump sucked and some locals happened by with an air tank), and remount to be on my way. Oh, and I loaded the bike all back up, popped it off its centerstand and it fell away from me and flipped upside down into the ditch. Nothing was damaged and when the oil and fuel cleared out it actualy started.

Spent the night hear shortly after the above flat tire. The primitive camping was great....wide open, nice grass, quiet. The RV area was a zoo and very sketchy....course I like my privacy and solitude when I camp. nothing worse then waking up to the jackass turning on his generator so he can watch the "game".

If you look at the road sign in the top left portion of the screen you will see its East and North or something. This was the beginning of what I like to call "grid navigation". Its one of the places on earth where you can make exact left and right turns all day long and never hit a curve.

When you come from a state where flat is pretty nonexistent these open areas are pretty amazing. It was pretty cool at first....but by day 4 it was getting old. Notice the complete lack of clouds in the sky....a common theme while I was in Oklahoma....I just prayed for some shade.